Cuniculture

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Cuniculture is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising domestic rabbits, usually for their meat, fur, or wool. Some people, called rabbit fanciers, practice cuniculture predominantly for show or hobby.

[edit] Advantages of Rabbits vs. Other Livestock

Rabbits have a higher reproductive capacity than most farm animals. They can produce up to 18 offspring every 3 months.

The small size and relative ease of handling and caring for rabbits makes cuniculture one of the few practical forms of "livestock" agriculture that suburban or even urban hobbyists can attempt. As there is not a large market for rabbit meat or fur, however, very few farmers in the United States engage in cuniculture to any significant extent.

The practice of cuniculture can be rewarding to families interested in producing their own meat. Rabbits can be raised nearly anywhere as they make no sound at all and are completely harmless. Beginning a modest project can be simple and inexpensive. The first investments would include materials for cages, one male(buck) and two females(does). Rabbits consume very little feed each day and require almost no additives to their diet if fed a quality rabbit feed. They take up little space, and have almost no other requirements.

Assuming you have an appropriate breed of rabbit for meat production such as a New Zealand White or a Californian White, the rabbits will mature at about six months. Now they can be bred year-round. Each doe produces four to thirteen babies per mating. The gestation period is about 31 days and the doe can be bred again as soon as the babies are weaned. The rabbits will be approximately eight weeks old when they are weaned, they are called fryers. If a larger breed, they should be about six pounds at this time and can be slaughtered for about four pounds of meat. Slaughtering the rabbits as soon as they are weaned is efficient because you will only have fed them 2-3 weeks beforehand. This means that you only have to feed your fryers for those few weeks and your adult rabbits; the rest can be slaughtered and eaten. A doe that weans six rabbits three months after she is bred produces approximately 24 pounds of meat in that time.